oregon in the 90s
Culture Wars
Oregon in the early 1990s was a site of culture wars, especially targeting the LGBTQ+ community. In a familiar misplaced fixation on marginalized communities in the midst of social and cultural unrest, queer people became a target of a rising, ultra-conservative movement.
Prior to the 1980s, rural Oregon was supported by the security and stability of the lumber industry, which resulted in a "live-and-let-live" sort of attitude within the region.
While the 60s and 70s brought "counter-cultural newcomers" to the area, there was not yet intense friction amongst these different social groups.
But in the early 1980s, the United States faced a recession--at the time, the worst since the Great Depression. The timber industry that had previously "supported a prosperous small-town lifestyle since the end of World War II," was deeply affected by the recession. Lumber mills were closing and jobs were disappearing.
Around this period, the already-struggling timber industry also became the target of the environmentalist movement, which wanted to "protect the last strands and ancient forest and defend endangered species." While the rest of the country was on a path towards recovery after the recession, rural Oregon was no longer able to rely on the once-prosperous timber industry. Folks in rural Oregon viewed "environmentalist organizations" as "malicious interlopers."
These conservative beliefs began to spiral out of control, combining with the already-developing religious right-wing movement in the state. As their anti-environmental movement proved unsuccessful, feminism, liberalism, and "gay liberation" became their new targets. They claimed that these social causes were to blame for their economic hardships during this era.
In 1992 the Oregon Citizens Alliance, a religious, conservative political organization sponsored a series of ballot measures to address the problems they saw including Ballot Measure 9.
In a confusing but dangerous turn of events, homosexuality became a huge target of the right-wing's agenda. While there was not a particularly large, or perhaps just not vocal, queer community in the area, the right-wing acted as though "outlawing gay rights would address their problems."
Ballot Measure 9 was an unveiled effort towards demonizing and erasing the existence of queer people in the state of Oregon.
Lumping homosexuality with pedophilia, sadism, and masochism, Measure 9 declared that queer people were to be considered "abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse." The measure also detailed that the government and education system were not to protect queer people as a minority group.
While the measure did not ultimately pass, the measure was widely supported and voted for across the rural regions of Oregon.
The community began to rise up against this blatant bigotry. "Human Dignity Groups" began popping up across the state. An important grassroots activism group (which still does work in Oregon today--CLICK HERE to learn more from their website), the Rural Organizing Project, was established in 1993.
In a 2016 article, Arlene Stein made connections between this era of Oregon's history and why Trump had won his first presidential race. Not even a few months into his second term, I think the connections have only gotten stronger. The right-wing continues to target already marginalized communities, especially queer and especially trans people, as a huge part of their agenda--just as the political right-wing of 1990s rural Oregon acted as if attacking LGBTQ+ rights would somehow solve the collapse of the timber industry they so relied on.
In a 2016 article, Arlene Stein made connections between this era of Oregon's history and why Trump had won his first presidential race, paying particular attention to the way that rural communities can be mobilized towards conservative politics. She points out that, while "the majority of Oregonians may have voted for Clinton," "most of the state's rural citizens chose Trump" in the 2016 election.
Just to reiterate this point, below are political maps of Oregon for the presidential elections of 1992 (Bill Clinton) and 2024 (Donald Trump). And most of the U.S. would consider Oregon an undoubtedly blue and liberal state.
Not even a few months into Trump's second term, the connections Stein makes have only gotten stronger. The right-wing continues to target already marginalized communities, especially queer and especially trans people, as a huge part of their agenda--just as the political right-wing of 1990s rural Oregon acted as if attacking LGBTQ+ rights would somehow solve the collapse of the timber industry they so relied on.
CLICK HERE to read Stein's article.
Sources
“About Us.” Rural Organizing Project. Last accessed February 7, 2025. https://rop.org/our-history/?scfm-mobile=1.
Loose, Sarah K. “History from Below: Connecting Rural Oregon to its Social Movement History.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 115, no. 2 (Summer 2014): 244-251.
“Oregon, Pres.” Politico. Last modified February 17, 2025. https://www.politico.com/2024-election/results/oregon/.
“Our History.” Rural Organizing Project. Last accessed February 7, 2025. https://rop.org/our-history/?scfm-mobile=1.
“Recession of 1981-82.” Federal History Reserve. Last accessed February 24, 2025. https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/recession-of-1981-82.
Stein, Arlene. “Chapter 1: Introduction.” Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community’s Battle Over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights. Beacon Press, 2001.
Stein, Arlene. “How Oregon’s 1990s Campaigns Foretold Trump’s Politics of Division.” Beacon Broadside. Last modified December 19, 2016. https://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2016/12/how-oregons-1990s-campaigns-foretold-trumps-politics-of-division.html.
“2: Ballot Measure 9.” No on 9 Remembered. Last accessed February 24, 2025. https://noon9remembered.org/stories/ballot-measure-9/.
“1992 United States Presidential Election in Oregon.” Wikipedia. Last accessed February 24, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_presidential_election_in_Oregon.
“2024 United States Presidential Election in Oregon.” Wikipedia. Last accessed February 24, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_in_Oregon.